Hey everyone! More news from the set of ‘The Silence’ thanks to The Hollywood Reporter! By the way they got the name of the book author wrong – it’s Tim Lebbon! Also I have noticed a slight backlash online when it came to Kiernan being casted as a deaf character. Nothing really major but there are some people that are feeling that the part should have went to a deaf actress. With that said, you can’t make everyone happy and like I have said before that they obviously chose Kiernan for a reason, and Tim has even said that he approved in their chose in actress and the way she is playing Ally. He was recently on set and had nothing but positive things to say. She has been learning ALS and has a tutor on the set to help with this. Aside from this minor issue that I have come across; people are looking forward to seeing this book hit the big screen. Below is the article from The Hollywood Reporter. No photos yet – Sorry guys! Lets hope this changes soon! filming should be wrapping up this month!
How Deafness Is Adding Extra Scares to John Leonetti’s Horror Movie ‘The Silence’
‘Mad Men’ actress Kiernan Shipka is a deaf girl battling monsters, says the director: “Sound — even dialogue — is the enemy.”
John Leonetti knows horror. The veteran filmmaker, 61, cut his teeth as a focus puller on the original Poltergeist. As cinematographer on James Wan’s Insidious and The Conjuring, he contributed to two of the franchises that launched the current horror boom. And he scored his own bona fide horror hit with 2014’s Annabelle, which grossed $256 million worldwide.
He spoke to The Hollywood Reporter from Toronto, where he’s shooting The Silence, a high-concept chiller about a world beset by monsters in which a deaf girl (Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka) provides the only hope of survival. Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales at AFM.
There are a lot of horror films out there — what sets The Silence apart?
The story, based on a book by Tim Levin, has the whole world being taken over by these prehistoric reptiles that have been locked in caves in the dark for millions of years. These creatures, called Vesps, don’t have eyes. They base everything on sound. Anything that makes a sound, they dive-bomb and swarm. They’re unstoppable. But this family, their 17-year-old daughter Ally is deaf, so they communicate with sign language. That gives them a chance to escape. It’s really a family drama with an apocalyptic situation. And the concept of silence, that sound — even dialogue — is the enemy, makes it unique.
Has sound design been the biggest challenge in making the movie?
The concept of The Silence means there’s another dimension of this film that most movies don’t have. What drives this movie is sound and silence. On this film, sound drives picture more than any movie I’ve ever worked on in my 40-year career: the sound of a leaf hitting the ground, the loudness of sirens, the sound of silence.